Felipe Massa thinks Romain Grosjean did not deserve penalty – Formula 1 news
Ferrari driver Felipe Massa has said that Romain Grosjean of Lotus did not deserve penalty for overtaking him with all four wheels off the track at the Hungaroring in the 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Grosjean went completely off the track to pass Massa at Turn 4 in the Hungarian GP. After the race, his move was scrutinised by the race stewards and he had to face a drive-through penalty for gaining an advantage.
However, the Brazilian driver has asserted that he has no objection over the Frenchman’s move. Besides, he insisted that Grosjean should not have been penalised.
"I think it's wrong if he took the penalty for what he did with me," Massa said. "It was not really wrong. I don't think he went four wheels outside, I thought it was only two. No complaints from me."
In addition, the 32-year-old said that his car was not competitive enough to compete well with the major rivals. Moreover, he refused to put the blame of lack of pace on the new Pirelli tyres as according to him, Mercedes claimed victory on the same compound
and in the same hot conditions. Nevertheless, he stated that they will have to wait for the next couple of races in order to create complete understanding about the new tyres.
"I think, first of all, the car was not competitive at this track, that was the most important thing," he said. "We saw teams like Mercedes doing a good job on these tyres despite the temperature being high and they won the race. I don't know, maybe these
tyres are going to be better for other teams but I think we need to wait a couple of races."
Despite facing tyre degradation issues, the 32-year-old managed to secure 8th place finish in the previous race. Presently, he is standing at 7th position in the drivers’ championship with 61 points. Moreover, he is ahead of Grosjean
and behind his main rival, Nico Rosberg of Mercedes. It will be interesting to see how he performs in the season ahead and whether he will be able to stay at the Scarlet team for the next year or not.
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